The main concept of "Audible Minority" is all about perseverance and facing the life itself. Musically, it turned out to be a very dark, low-key and introspective album ever made under the name of Kekal. Be forwarned: Don't expect yourself to bang your head while listening to "Audible Minority". There are traces of extreme-metal at some points, but they collide with extreme electronic elements (with the use of multilayered power electronics, Moog synths and theremin) as well as dark, stripped-down emotional jazz and blues. I don't want to call this album 'experimental' or 'progressive', I prefer to call this 'expressional'.

Reunited progressive metallers CYNIC — whose 1993 album "Focus" is regarded as a landmark release in the field of technical/progressive metal — have set "Traced In Air" as the title of their new album, due on October 27 via Season of Mist Records.

Monday, July 21, 2008

First there was Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes, then there was Return To Cookie Mountain and soon there will be Dear Science,.

That’s right, as just announced on Pitchfork, TV On The Radio are indeed returning with their “long-awaited” ™ new album this Autumn. Entitled Dear Science, we will be releasing it on Monday September 22nd to the world outside North America. This is exciting news! We’ll update you with more as we get it.

It's the height of the festival season, and across Britain Identikit groups of tight-trousered, floppy-haired boys with guitars are taking to the stage, to thrash out a homogenous jangle. Critics have dubbed their sound 'indie landfill'. Is it the death knell of a once-vibrant underground scene?

Who are the chief culprits for this musical malaise? - step forward: NME and Q magazine, Xfm and Virgin Radio.

Five days of music and urban art sponsored by The Wire in the intimate venues of Stavanger. Performances from The Fall, Harmonia, Shackleton, A Certain Ratio, Black Dice, Kaada, Goodiepal, David Toop, DJ Pinch & MC Dread, Black Devil Disco Club, Blectum From Blechdom, Hudson Mohawke, Khan Of Finland, Plastician and more. Stavanger various venues, 3–7 September[The Wire is a media sponsor]

Numusic 2008

West Coast Festival of Numusic is fast becoming one of Europe’s leading club based festivals dedicated to promoting new music and urban art.

Numusic is based on the west coast of Norway in Stavanger, home to some of the world’s most beautiful fjords, mountains and coastal scenery. A small but culturally dynamic city, that is currently sharing European Capital of Culture alongside Liverpool.

Brooklyn-based Gregory and the Hawk will release their FatCat debut album Moenie and Kitchi on October 7th in North America and October 13th in the UK and Europe. Driven by Meredith Godreau’s beguiling and beautiful voice, and filled with a mix of bedroom acoustic guitar, lush instrumentation and sonic experimentation, the album was recorded together with Mice Parade's Adam Pierce in his upstate NY studio.

Swedish metal powerhouse Amon Amarth has completed work on its long-awaited new studio album. The full-length release, titled Twilight of the Thunder God, will see a September 30 North American release date via Metal Blade Records.

Canadian progressive metal titans INTO ETERNITY have have finalized the track listing for their first conceptual offering, "The Incurable Tragedy", which will be released in North America on September 2 via Century Media Records (August 25 in Europe).

The new album ''Endless Future'' of the ambient project Art of Infinity , featuring members of The Scorpions, Rammstein and Roedelius will see its release on September 19th 2008 by Prudence/Rough Trade.

Eclectic UK phenomenon CAINA, comprised of sole mastermind Andrew Curtis Brignell, have completed work on the next anticipated full-length album for Profound Lore Records.

Entitled Temporary Antennae, the new album sees Brignell stretch his musical oeuvre to new unheard levels culminating in a maturity which presents more depth and substance to the unique sound he conjured by combining the likes of raw black metal, 4AD post-rock, and folk/singer-songwriter music

We are happy to introduce the excellent young singer and songwriter Hilde Marie Kjersem with her first solo album. Neither a jazz album nor your typical melancholy Nordic singer songwriter album, let´s say it´s pop music with a twist, quite a few twists come to think of it, inviting the listener to a dramatic, beautiful, mysterious, seductive, dark, intricate and quite simply different sounding and fascinating musical ride.

Having worked with Enslaved before it is an honour to again being allowed to work with one of the absolute top acts in metal today. Their new album “Vertebrae” will be released September 2008, marking a quantum leap for Extreme Metal. “Vertebrae” is Enslaved’s most important achievement to date, and will convince through haunting songs, the most powerful production and unmatched integrity. More details on the album itself will be revealed shortly. Enslaved is also widely acclaimed as one of the best live acts on the scene today - following the release, Enslaved will commence on an extensive European Tour, being supported by fellow Norwegians Stonegard and Krakow. See the Events section for complete tour-list.

In a statement the band comments the signing:

“We’ve known the people behind the label for years, and have first-hand knowledge of their dedication, enthusiasm and professionalism. This signing makes perfect and utter sense to us; and we are proud to start off this cooperation with our strongest album ever”

Deep cuts, deep digging, deep passion: Norwegian DJ/producer Prins Thomas is very much a self-made man. RA caught up with him on the eve of his label's first compilation release to talk hip-hop, Wham and adult oriented disco.

We are very happy to inform you that we have warmly welcomed keyboard player Harald de Haan (Kevin´s Crew).He will join and help the band with working on the new album.And he will be in control of the keys when The Wounded go live on stages again in the near future.Ed Dresscher also will be helping to get the album done as soon as possible.In the last few years Ed became a very important factor within the band.We thank you for the days on the road and for never letting the band down.And we wish you all the best!

Chicago-area producer Stephen Hitchell is a man of many projects. As Soultek, he recently released 12-inches on soundshift [detroit] and Lee Purkis’ Fortune8. He collaborates with Rod Modell as cv313 and Echospace.

Even more importantly, Mt Sims wasted no time finishing up the third album "Happily Ever After" slated for an October US release on Hungry Eye Records, produced by none other than Thomas Stern of Crime and the City Solution,

In mid August we will release 'A Killer For That Ache' by brilliant singer and songwriter Hilde Marie Kjersem, to be followed later in the year by new releases from MoHa!, Huntsville (with some very special guests), Susanna (solo) and Humcrush (live). We also plan to finally release 'Money Will Ruin Everything 2'.

Club Night 2008 is comprised of about 90 bands playing at 25 different venues. As we see it, this year's bill is the grooviest ever and contains for example summer pop, Balkan rhythms, indie rock, psychedelia, hardcore, rock'n'roll, prog, punk, garage rock, country, electronica, blues, and a whole lot more. A music event of this magnitude doesn't happen in downtown Oslo too often. As usual, the bill is dominated by up-and-coming Norwegian acts, but there are also a few well-known names to be found. The program is now more or less complete, but a couple of names may be added during the next few weeks. Artist info will be made available under ARTISTS in the weeks to come.

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